Thursday, September 06, 2012

Translation issues ... Coptic ... German

I am preparing to present a paper on the Sahidic translation of the Apocalypse at the International Association of Coptic Studies quadrennial conference which will take place 17-21 September in Rome. I am really amazed at the amount of Bible at this meeting (info). While preparing my paper on citation method, I stumbled upon this funny clip which involves language and translation. This is particularly humorous to me as I am writing this from Germany, and can thoroughly identify with the main character in the sketch.

3 comments
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I find it interesting that Alessandro Bausi will be presenting on Coptic influence on Ethiopian Christianity. I find it fascinating that the Ethiopian Jews have manuscripts of the Torah not in Hebrew, but Ge'ez. Has anyone researched the question as to whether the Ethiopic OT originated as a Christian translation, which the Jews, having lost their Hebrew Scriptures, appropriated for their own use?

I don't doubt that it was the same translation event that resulted in the Ethiopic Version manuscripts revered by both the Jewish and Orthodox (sometimes erroneously called Coptic) communities of Ethiopia. The question is, who did the translating--Jews, before the advent of Ethiopian Orthodoxy under Frumentius, or Christians, afterward?